Saturday, December 30, 2006

Free Market Environmentalism: The Case of Recycling Christmas Trees

I have stopped blogging for a week now as I have moved to Los Angeles. The New York Times had a nice article today on the "co2 reduction benefits" of various lifestyle choices. Our Westwood apartment is a 10 minute walk from UCLA. I have noticed that we are one of the few families in Westwood to not drive a fancy car. Perhaps in an alternate galaxy a 1993 Nissan Altima is a fancy car?

I really like Los Angeles. It was 75 degrees today and sunny. Somehow Los Angeles gets a bad rap in the Northeast. I'm not really sure why this is the case. I wonder if its just plain ignornance that the people of New York and Boston haven't spent any time in LA. I have lived in NYC and Boston for 13 years of my 40 years so I may know what I'm talking about here.

May 2007 be a better year for you than 2006. I'm looking forward to it!

UCLA doesn't start up for another week so I have no deep insights about my new home at the Institute of the Environment but I did find this advertise from Whole Foods funny.

It is a good example of how a "pollution problem" can become a business opportunity for an enterprising thinker. One person's waste is another person's productive input. Isn't this a nice example of "ecological economics"? Note that there is no government involvement here in mitigating this externality. Government does play a role here of punishing people with christmas trees who just want to dump it. This credible threats creates a business opening for the recyclers.

www.recycletrees.com

California Christmas Tree Recycling offers a hassle-free way to recycle your tree and give something back to our environment. Starting at $25 we will come to your home, remove the tree from its stand, vacuum the floor and take the combustible tree to the recycling center. The mulch is then used for local plantings and a portion of all proceeds goes to TreePeople to plant new trees.

You are probably familiar with the difficulties of removing the Christmas tree yourself.

First you need to get the stinky water out of the stand. This means you either soak up the water with a sponge or buy a wet/dry vacuum.

Then you need to get the poor thing through the front door and on top of your car, which turns you into a human Christmas tree. The city forbids us to put the tree on the curb to be picked up and threatens to ticket us according to L.A. municipal code 57.21.06!

The city suggests that individuals cut their trees up and place them in their "Green" bins. But for most of us, the tree will stick out more than one foot above the top of the bin, once again violating city policy. And of course burning it in the fireplace is an extreme fire hazard.

Well, let's say that you are successful at getting rid of your tree. Now it is time to vacuum up the needles that have dropped as the crispy tree was wrestled out of the house. The stiff needles often clog the vacuum leading to expensive repair bills.

Why not skip all the hassle and call us?

Rated "Best of LA" by Los Angeles Magazine, California Christmas Tree Recycling does a great job at keeping Christmas trees out of landfills and providing a convenient service for their clients!